Arrays of Ni nanowires with different wire diameters were prepared by electrodepositing the corresponding material into cylindrical pores of anodic alumina templates. A transition of the easy magnetization direction has been observed from the wire axis to the transverse direction when the wire diameter increases. It is analytically obtained that this phenomenon is mainly originated from the competition of shape anisotropy and the magnetostatic coupling among the Ni wires. Based on dipolar interaction model, numerical calculation is performed to study the interaction among the nanowires, and the result is in agreement with the experimental data.